How do the 2018 FIFA World Cup teams rank on social media?

France, Brazil, Italy, Spain, and most recently Germany, have won the coveted FIFA World Cup trophy. They were all pretty great footballing teams, but what about their presence on social media?

Before the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia kicks off later today, we take a look at how the 32 countries rank in terms of social media fans and followers across Instagram and Twitter.

Let’s begin with the latter.

Twitter’s likely the social network where chatter surrounding key moments on the pitch will develop organically, but the current frontrunner hasn’t yet won a World Cup.

Mexico is the most followed team as of 30 May, with slightly less than 6-million followers to its name. Two other South American nations follow it, namely Colombia and Brazil, with France placed fourth. Argentina and England — both nations whose handles are their country names — are neck and neck around 3.3-million followers.

These top six, along with Germany and Spain in seventh and eighth, would make quite an entertaining quarter final selection.

Overall, these eight nations have more than a million followers on Twitter, while Nigeria remains the most followed African nation with 308 000 fans.

This changes on Instagram though.

For one, Portugal has more followers on the image-heavy social network than Twitter. It’s an anomaly that’s shared with Iran, Senegal, Peru and a handful of other nations. While only 500 000 follow it on Twitter, more than 1.5-million users like its Instagram page.

The United States on the other hand, at least its US men’s team, boasts 2.21-million followers on Twitter, which would put it ahead of former European and World Champions Spain. It also has 1.8-million followers on Instagram, which would’ve seen them slot into fourth position behind England.

As for the Dutch, only 53 000 people follow the country’s official FA account. Unlike the US, there’s no dedicated men’s or women’s team accounts. On Twitter, it fares slightly better with 458 000 followers.

Finally, the Italian team boast 510 000 disappointed English-speaking Twitter fans, while a further 600 000 follow the team’s Italian account. On Instagram, 1.4-million people keep abreast of the country’s official footballing news. That would’ve placed it ahead of Spain.

Have a look at the graph below to see where your team ranks on Twitter and Instagram ordered by World Cup group.

Author | Andy Walker: Editor

Camper by day, run-and-gunner by night, Andy prefers his toast like his coffee -- dark and crunchy. Specialising in spotting the next big Instagram cat star, Andy also dabbles in smartphone, gadget and game reviews over on Gearburn. More